Dye assistant for polyamides containing alkylene polyamines diamidated with fatty acids, polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester and an alkyl quaternary ammonium compound



United States Patent Office DYE ASSISTANT FOR POLYAMIDES CONTAINING ALKYLENE POLYAMINES DIAMIDATED WITH FATTY ACIDS, POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL FAT- TY ACID ESTER AND AN ALKYL QUATERNARY AMMONIUM COMPOUND Ira Sapers, Newark, and Alton A. Cook, Bloomfield, N.J., assignors to Arkansas Company, Inc., Newark, N.J., a corporation of New York No Drawing. Filed Oct. 2, 1967, Ser. No. 672,002

Claims. (Cl. 8-54) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A low temperature dyeing assistant for polyamide fibers, such as wool, nylon and the like, is shown which is formed of a combination of at least three components. The first component has the generalized formula where R is a fatty acid radical and x has a value of at least 6 and no more than 8. The second component is an ester of a polyethylene glycol and a fatty acid, the third component has a generalized formula FQX, where F is a long chain alkyl radical having at least carbon atoms, Q is a quaternary ammonium radical and X is an acid radical.

The invention herein relates to what is termed low temperature dyeing which involves treating the material to be dyed at a temperature less than 212 F. and generally within a temperature range of 150 to 190 F.

In the dyeing art it is preferable to treat material. to be dyed at as low a temperature as possible. The higher the temperature used, the more deterioration is produced by the dyeing process to the dyed fabric. Unfortunately, it is also true that, in general, high temperatures are required in order to properly penetrate and fix the dye onto the fabric. Various types of assistants have been provided to permit proper dye fixation at higher temperatures.

In our prior Patent No. 2,524,041 patented Oct. 3, 1950, we disclose various dyeing assistants which facilitate high temperature dyeing. These assistants do not operate in dyeing processes within the low temperature range set forth in this application.

We have now discovered that, if we combine three components into a dyeing assistant which is utilized for polyamide fibers such as wool, nylon, camel hair, mohair and the like, we obtain a composition which produces surprising results. With this composition, dyeing can be performed on polyamide fibers within the ranges of 150 to 190 F. If the assistant of this invention is not used, dyeing within these ranges will not be satisfactory.

The first component of the dyeing assistant has the generalized formula RNH(C H NH) -R, where R is a fatty acid radical and x has a value of at least 6 and no more than 8. The second component is an ester of a polyethylene glycol and a fatty acid, and the third component has the generalized formula FQX, where F is a long chain alkyl radical having at least 10 carbon atoms, Q is a quaternary ammonium radical and X is an acid radical. When the composition of this invention is used in a dye bath including water, an acid can be optionally employed to bring the pH of the composition to a value between 6 and 7.

Most surprisingly, the value of x in the generalized formula of the first component of this invention cannot fall outside of the ranges set forth above. If x is less than 6 or more than 8, the composition is not operative for low temperature dyeing of polyamide fibers.

3,399,953 Patented Sept. 3, 1968 One of the preferred formulas for the first component of the dyeing assistant is as follows:

II CH3 CH2)IGUNH(C2H4NH)5C2H4NH (CHzhtCHa The second component of the dyeing assistant of this invention is an ester of polyethylene glycol and a fatty acid. A formulation for one of the preferred components is:

(it 0 CHa(CH2)mC-OCzH4(C2H-1O)1,C2H4Og (CH2) C]I3 where m ranges from 8 to 20 with a range from 10 to 16 preferred and n ranges from 8 to 148 with a range of 13 to 98 preferred. The compound illustrated above is a di-ester but a mono-ester may also be employed. The formulation of a preferred form of mono-ester, with the values of m and n as set forth above, is as follows:

Some of the preferred compounds constituting the third component of the dyeing assistant are as follows:

coconut trimethyl ammonium chloride octadecyl dimethyl ethyl ammonium chloride octadecyl diethoxy methyl ammonium chloride cetyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride coconut diethoxy benzyl ammonium chloride In general, the quantities of the components which are utilized to form the dyeing assistant of this invention are 2 to 10 parts by weight of the first component, 10 to 40 parts by weight of the second component, and 2 to 10 parts by weight of the third component.

The invention will now be described by specific examples of the practice thereof.

EXAMPLE 1 A dye bath was prepared at 100 F. containing the following composition:

Percent by weight Acetic acid (56%) 2 Sodium sulfate 10 Dye assitant made in accordance with this invention 0.5 Water 87.5

Scoured wool stock was placed into the bath and worked for about 10 minutes. A dye known as C.I. acid green 25 was then added and the stock worked an additional 5 to 10 minutes. The bath was gradually heated to a temperature of 180 F. and dyeing continued at this temperature for 45 minutes. The dyed material was then removed from the bath and was found to be in excellent condition.

EXAMPLE II Preparation of dye assistant 42 parts by weight of a polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of approximately 4000 were mixed with 568 parts by weight of stearic acid. To this mixture was added of the combined weights of the components of para toluene sulfonic acid. The components were heated at a temperature of between C. to C. for eight hours. The reaction was terminated when the free fatty acid content of the mixture was reduced to less 5%. The esterified product yielded a brilliant clear solution in water. This solution was set aside for further processing.

2 mols of stearic acid were mixed with 1 mol of hexaethylene-heptamine and heatd for 4 hours at a temperature of between C. to 220 C. The condensation product produced was then set aside for further processmg.

The two products referred to above were then mixed together in the proportion of three parts of ester to one part of amide and the resultant mixture heated at a temperature between 100 to 150 C. for about an hour. The resultant product was cooled to 80 C. and one part coconut trimethyl ammonium chloride was added. The resultant composition was mixed for about 45 minutes. It was then cooled to room temperature and produced the dyeing assistant of this invention.

The foregoing sets forth the manner in which the objects of this invention are achieved.

What is claimed is:

1. A low temperature dyeing assistant for polyamide fibers comprising a first component having a generalized formula RNH(C H NH) R, where R is selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid radical and hydrogen and x has a value of at least 6 and no more than 8; a second component comprising an ester of a polyethylene glycol and a fatty acid; and a third component having a generalized formula F-QX, where F is a long chain alkyl radical having at least 10 carbon atoms, Q is a quaternary ammonium radical and X is an acid radical.

2. A low temperature dyeing assistant as described in claim 1 where R is a fatty acid radical.

3. A low temperature dyeing assistant as described in claim 2 including a water soluble acid.

4. A low temperature dyeing assistant as described in claim 3, the acid being selected from the group consisting of phosphoric acid, acetic acid, formic acid and sulphuric acid.

5. A low temperature dyeing assistant as described in claim 4, the ester being l040 parts by weight, the amide being 210 parts by weight, the quaternary ammonium compound being 2-10 parts by weight and the acid being present in suflicient amount to give the composition a pH of 6 to 7.

References Cited 

